Definition
by Nanaki Lioness
Summary: AU NaruSasuNaru. Sasuke, Naruto, and a kitten.


Disclaimer: The characters, items, places etc of Naruto are property of Masashi Kishimoto. These objects are used without permission for entertainment only, not for making money. No infringement is intended.

_AU SasuNaru, NaruSasu- I really don't know how to define this. I also don't really care, in honesty- they're well matched either way in my opinion :) It's more cute than anything else either so I don't think the 'positions' matter!_

**Definition**

By Nanaki Lioness

Naruto found himself to be a dutiful house… Well, not a husband and_certainly_ not a wife. A good house-_boyfriend_, that was it. He stayed home and cleaned, cooked and tidied and his partner earned the living. Naruto had offered to work as well, but Sasuke had simply scowled at him for the offer and no more was said.

Deep down, Naruto knew Sasuke preferred to work because he felt he was the man in the relationship. Even deeper down, Naruto also didn't care if that was the case (though heaven forbid he ever say that out loud). He was happy to put on some good music and sing along badly as he cleaned, making sure it was turned off at least ten minutes before Sasuke was due home and that dinner was on the table. Naruto had learnt how to cook very, very quickly when his offering of cup ramen the first day they'd moved in had been promptly thrown out the window.

Sasuke was due home from his office job- _boring_- any moment, so the music was already turned off and the table was laid. Once he had learnt how to throw together a decent meal, Naruto found that he quite enjoyed his time in the kitchen- though Sasuke never did appreciate the cakes and desserts he sometimes baked.

Dishing the stir fry into stylish cream bowls, Naruto glanced up at the white plastic clock and grinned to himself. One minute to six- and there was one thing Sasuke was more than anything, and that was punctual. He would be home in one minute.

When six pm came and went, Naruto frowned and carried the dishes through to the small dining room, setting them onto the table. Any moment now, he'd hear the telltale sound of Sasuke's sleek black Jaguar XK- why oh _why_ had Sasuke's parents deemed that a suitable twenty-first birthday present?- pulling into the driveway, so he filled the time by getting two swirled red glasses from the cupboard in the kitchen and pouring them both a lemonade.

Once those were settled on the table with no appearance of Sasuke, Naruto found himself pouting. Sasuke was _never_ late… Unless something had happened?

Pushing the thought from his mind, Naruto chided himself for being so paranoid, and chided himself further when he heard that telltale purr of one unmistakably (though he would deny it) sexy car pulling into their driveway. He seated himself at the table, knowing Sasuke would beeline for this room for dinner as he always did.

Straining his ears, he heard the key turn in the lock and shrugged, picking up his fork. He was practically in the house, and that meant Naruto was free to finally eat. He tasted the stir fry and sighed in content- he was such a damn good cook, even if he did say so himself.

"You're a bit late today," he called out cheerfully. "Lots of traffic on the way home?"

"I got held up leaving work," the short response came back from the hall, followed by footsteps in Naruto's direction. Naruto chuckled slightly, shaking his head. Even his perfectionist boyfriend couldn't escape his own boss- at least, that was what he presumed had held Sasuke up.

When Sasuke appeared in the doorway in front of him, looking slightly worse for wear and clutching a small orange bundle, Naruto put the fork in his hand down and momentarily gaped.

"What the hell is that?" He asked, despite knowing exactly what it was.

"It's a kitten you moron," came the answer he expected. "What does it look like?"

"It looks like it's going to get hairs on my nice clean floor."

Sasuke shot him a penetrating glare and put the kitten on the floor to spite Naruto, closing the dining room door so it would stay in the room with them. He seated himself opposite his boyfriend, giving him an appreciative nod as he picked up his fork.

Naruto snatched it from him, shaking his head. "Explain."

Sasuke took his fork back with a sigh. "My boss's cat had kittens. They're four months old and he says they're old enough to be re-homed now."

"That doesn't tell me why there's one here," Naruto pushed, his eyes trained on the small bundle of orange fur currently staring right back at him with frightened eyes.

"He decided he would re-home them with his workers because when he bought pictures of the damned things in, everyone said how cute they were."

"You make it sound like _you_ didn't agree."

"I didn't. But he made the assumption I obviously wanted one, and who am I to tell my boss I certainly _don't_."

Naruto frowned at that, picking up his fork again to resume eating his cooling meal. "So what do we _do_ with it?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"I presume you don't want to keep it?" Naruto asked, watching the cat gingerly try to scratch at the edge of the door to get out.

"I presume _you_ don't," Sasuke corrected. "Since you're watching it like you'd like it to not be here."

"I wish it wouldn't do that to the door," Naruto sighed, indicating the soft scratching with a flick of his head.

"It's a _kitten_. You might as well be asking it not to be cute."

"So you admit it's cute?" Naruto grinned, finishing his stir fry and pushing the bowl away.

"That isn't what I said."

"Yes it _is_."

"No it- Naruto, just shut up alright?"

"I wasn't talking, you were."

Sasuke picked up his glass and held it out in a threatening motion. "Don't make me throw this at you, moron."

The kitten mewed pathetically at them from the floor, causing them both to glance down at it. It had given up on the door, instead sitting next to it and looking expectantly at them.

"We don't have any cat food," Naruto pointed out. "Or a litter box."

"I'll go to the supermarket," Sasuke replied, also finishing his food and gathering their dishes together. It was an unspoken routine they had settled in- Sasuke washed up after Naruto cooked. It was the only thing he really had time to do around the house, but that was exactly how Naruto liked it.

"There might be some tuna in the cupboard," Naruto mused, picking the kitten up and pulling the door open for Sasuke, who had his hands full with the dishes.

"You're suddenly very accommodating," Sasuke pointed out as they walked through to the kitchen together. Naruto shrugged and closed the door, setting the kitten down on the wooden floor as Sasuke put the dishes in the sink.

"It's a kitten, it's pretty helpless," he protested. "It _needs_ someone to look after it right now."

He rummaged through the cupboard as Sasuke washed up, pulling out a tin of tuna chunks triumphantly. "Here we go. Dinner is served, little fuzzball!"

"Please, spare me the cute nicknames."

"What shall we name it anyway?" Naruto replied, ignoring what his boyfriend had just said.

"If you name it, we end up keeping it- you know that, right?"

Naruto shrugged, opening the tin of tuna. Almost as soon as the scent wafted through the air the kitten's ears pricked up, and it sat patiently at Naruto's feet wagging its tail slightly in anticipation.

"If we keep it, you'll have to clean even more," Sasuke pointed out, drying his hands with a tea-towel. "And you'll be responsible for it."

Naruto gave him a grin, taking the opened tin to the sink to drain it. The kitten followed obediently, almost tripping him over.

"I don't know… It _is_ pretty cute. Is it a boy or a girl?"

Sasuke hesitated for a moment, as if wondering whether to encourage his partner's sudden eagerness. Apparently deciding he would, he scooped the kitten from the ground and gave it a quick inspection. "Boy," he eventually answered, putting it back down to sit impatiently for its dinner. "Orange cats are usually male anyway."

"How do you know that? How did you know how to check its gender too, come to think of it?"

"Does it matter?"

"Don't sulk," Naruto chided, setting the drained tuna tin on the side and washing his hands. "It's unattractive."

"Please," Sasuke answered, his voice lowered and smooth as silk. He slinked an arm around Naruto's waist, causing the blonde to freeze as he felt Sasuke's breath right by his ear. "Since when am _I_ unattractive?"

"Never?" Naruto squeaked in response, resisting the urge to shudder as Sasuke flicked his tongue lightly around the edge of his ear before pulling away.

"_Exactly_. I'm going to go to the supermarket, then. Do you fancy coming along for the ride?"

Whatever Naruto was going to say was interrupted by the kitten meowing loudly, stretching up and pawing the cupboard eagerly and sniffing the air for the tuna.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Naruto apologised, getting a bowl from the cupboard as Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You're hungry, are you?"

He emptied the contents of the tin into the bowl and set it on the floor, filling another bowl with water and setting it down.

"I can't come, can I? Someone needs to stay here with him."

"If you say so," Sasuke sighed. "If you're going to insist we keep him, you'd better think of a name."

With that he was gone, leaving Naruto to perch himself on the worktop- Sasuke would have a fit if he saw him doing that- and watch the kitten demolish the tuna.

"A name, eh?" He wondered aloud. "What do you want to be called, little one?"

Unsurprisingly, the kitten ignored him in favour of his dinner.

"You should have a cute name," Naruto decided. "Something that will make Sasuke frown at me in that equally cute way every time I say it."

He said no more, watching the kitten finish his tuna and lap at the water instead. Naruto felt something inside him melt as he watched it- something that had long ago declared something had been missing from his life… And had decided _this very kitten_ was that thing.

Okay, so maybe that was too melodramatic- but he _did_ get awfully lonely in the day without Sasuke. When Sasuke got home he had a routine of his own and it often didn't involve Naruto- neither of them could thrive on the type of touchy-feely relationship he often saw people settle in to. They'd drive each other to a split within a week if they spent their time cuddled on the sofa whispering sweet nothings to each other.

Of course, that didn't mean they weren't romantic in their own way- it was just… _Rougher_. Sometimes literally, Naruto thought with a slight blush as he recalled the near-feral instincts that kicked in for them in the bedroom. That didn't stop Sasuke being unbelievably sweet when he wanted to, though- rare moments that were welcomed and really cemented their relationship as perfect in Naruto's eyes.

Naruto shook the thoughts from his head and jumped down from the counter, kneeling on the floor. He held a hand out to the kitten, who nuzzled it gently, seemingly content with human contact. Naruto ran a hand over his fur almost in wonderment at how _soft_ he was. It was addictive and he couldn't pull his hand away, finding himself suddenly not caring how much of this soft _soft_ fur this kitten shed on his floor.

The kitten retaliated by playfully attacking his socked foot, and Naruto found himself almost giggling with joy, gently nudging him away.

"You want to play, huh?" He questioned. Picking the kitten up, he made a quick detour via their bedroom before heading to the living room. Pulling the door closed behind him, he threw his makeshift toy retrieved from the bedroom into the center of the room- a bright orange sock- and set the kitten down.

Almost immediately the tiny predator crouched low and pounced, chewing and kicking the sock as though it were prey. Naruto settled down on the sofa, and found himself wondering how he'd never seen the appeal of a pet before.

-.-.-

By the time Sasuke arrived back home thirty minutes or so later, Naruto had the perfect name for their new companion. He glanced up as Sasuke pushed open the living room door, giving him a cheeky grin.

"Sasuke," he said proudly. "Meet Socks."

Sasuke cast a glance down at the orange bundle of fur, still playing with the now worse-for-wear equally orange sock. He pursed his lips, putting the bags he was carrying down on the floor.

"Cute," he eventually supplied, his voice clipped. "I was able to get everything he'll need apart from a cat bed."

"It doesn't matter where he sleeps," Naruto shrugged.

"He's not sleeping on our bed."

"I didn't say that."

"I_know_ you were thinking it."

Naruto looked sheepish and shrugged. "Maybe."

"You've become very attached," Sasuke pointed out.

Naruto shrugged as if it didn't matter, getting up to inspect the bags Sasuke had put down. Sasuke took that to mean Naruto would deal with them, stealing his spot on the sofa.

"I'll put these things out in the conservatory," Naruto told his boyfriend, who was leaning back on the sofa with his eyes closed.

Sasuke shrugged his indifference so Naruto picked up the bags to get to it, stepping out into their conservatory. Their little bungalow was small and cosy, purchased by Sasuke's parents for Sasuke on his eighteenth birthday. Naruto had concluded long ago that his boyfriend's parents had money to burn, and didn't object to burning it on their son. Neither had raised an eyebrow when Sasuke had told them Naruto was going to move in- but then again, neither of them had questioned _why_ either.

He set about filling the litter tray, placing it on top of a newspaper he'd been meaning to throw out. Once that was done, he took the two bowls and gave them a clean- Socks had left his toy at some point and come to watch him curiously, sitting by Naruto's feet looking up as though the bowls would perhaps mean more food.

"You just ate," Naruto told him as he glanced down at the expectant furry face, drying the bowl in his hands. "I'm not feeding you again."

He filled the second bowl with water and set them both down further along in the conservatory. Seeing there was no food to be had, Socks simply yawned and curled himself up in the windowsill. He seemed quite at home now after his shy beginning, and Naruto felt satisfied enough to leave him be and join Sasuke in the living room.

"What are you sulking about?" He joked, noticing the glare Sasuke gave him as he entered the room and sat down next to him.

"Nothing."

"Don't give me that," Naruto chided, poking Sasuke in the ribs. Sasuke battered his hand away irritably, crossing his arms.

"Don't do that, you know I hate it."

Naruto frowned slightly, concerned. "Did you have a bad day at work?"

"I was having a wonderful day until my boss ditched his stupid cat on me."

"Oh, it's alright," Naruto shrugged. "You don't have to worry, he'll settle in well. We can give him a good home, so why shouldn't we?"

"Because this is _our_ home," Sasuke protested, but chose not to elaborate.

Naruto couldn't help throwing his head back in laughter at that, instantly working out the problem. Before he could voice his opinion, Sasuke threw a pillow at him and stalked out the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Naruto cast a glance towards the conservatory and sighed, shaking his head. He got up and followed Sasuke to the bedroom where he knew he would be, throwing the door open and closing it behind him. As predicted, Sasuke was lying on the bed staring up at the ceiling blankly.

"Sasuke, you're jealous of a _cat_," Naruto said bluntly. "What's up with that?"

"This is _our_ home," Sasuke replied, not sitting up or looking at Naruto. Naruto felt momentarily touched he referred to it as theirs despite only Sasuke's name appearing on the house deeds, and it technically being his gift, but said nothing.

"It's still our home," Naruto shrugged, settling down on the edge of the bed. "It just might be… Well, _furrier_ now."

He chuckled at his own joke, but Sasuke didn't share his enthusiasm.

"You think I'm going to like the cat over you?"

"Don't be stupid."

"Then_what_?"

Sasuke finally sat up, giving him an awkward shrug and turning as a slight blush spread across his cheeks. "I don't want to share you," he admitted quietly.

"When you get home from work, we sit down and eat dinner together. Then you go do your own thing, I do my own thing, and sometimes we screw. Sometimes we might rent a movie and watch it together. We don't really do much together that will change with the presence of a cat."

"_Change_," Sasuke stressed.

"Does change have to be a bad thing?"

"Define 'bad'."

"Define 'good'."

Sasuke didn't reply.

"When we got together, that was a change wasn't it?" Naruto asked. "What about when I moved in?"

"Those are good."

"And what has been bad?"

No response.

"Who says this cat can't be a good thing?" Naruto continued regardless. "Sasuke, you spend all day working- and I'm grateful for that, I truly am- but I'm the one who spends all day home by myself with the household chores for company. Do you even know how I spend my day?"

Sasuke didn't answer, but he glanced around with curious eyes. Naruto took that as a sign to continue.

"I play music and do everything that needs to be done. When everything's been tidied or cleaned or washed, I mill around singing along badly to music- hell, sometimes I _dance_ badly to music- and just watch the damn clock until you get home."

Sasuke gave him a tiny smile at that. "That sounds quite cute."

Naruto gave him an equally small smile back. "It looks more stupid than cute."

Sasuke had to laugh slightly at that, shaking his head with a soft sigh. "I like the life we have," he said softly.

"It's a cat, not a child. He's going to spend a hideously enviable amount of time asleep or out hunting. When he's settled in and can go out, you'll barely see him."

Sasuke sighed heavily. "Alright, point taken."

"So… Stop sulking and come join me for the evening, then?" Naruto offered. "We're long overdue a sappy cuddle session on the sofa."

He pulled Sasuke up from the bed, taking the lack of response as a yes. Taking his hand, he led him to the living room, pushing open the door to lead him to the sofa.

He froze and laughed, Sasuke glanced over his shoulder inquisitively. Curled up in the warm spot they had left on the sofa was Socks, looking up at them with sleepy eyes that suggested they had just woken him.

"Nothing's going to change, eh?" Sasuke chided. "Do _you_ want to be the one to shoo such cuteness away?"

"So you _do_ think he's cute!" Naruto replied with glee. Sasuke scowled at him and broke their hands free in response.

"Shall we take it to the bedroom instead?" Sasuke suggested.

Naruto re-took his hand, giving him a small grin. "I was just about to suggest that myself."

They backtracked out of the room, closing the door as they did so- quietly- after all, neither of them wanted to disturb 'such cuteness' further. He, too, had been stuck in the office all day and needed a good night's sleep- something Naruto was going to make sure Sasuke got, too.

-.-.-

_Author's Note: I love cats. This is probably obvious by now between this piece and Taming Sasuke, but I really do XD_

_I'm working on another chaptered SasuNaru. But I have a small announcement to make- I'm pregnant :) So between morning sickness (which was clearly named by a man, and is actually 'all day sickness') and fatigue, I'm not getting much writing done! I'm trying though, since I'm really enjoying writing it. Just be patient with me XD_


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